NT earns net profit of US$ 41.44 million in Q1
Nepal Telecom (NT) has earned net profit of around US$41.44 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2067/68 while it has earned total revenue of US$102.63 million.
The company has distributed about 270,000 lines of its different services across the country in the first three months of the current fiscal year. It also increased its total customer base to over 5.7 million as of mid-October this year.
According to the company, it increased its GSM service to 4.1 million customers and has plans to add 1.8 million GSM mobile lines by the end of this current fiscal year. It has been doing working hard to add 5 million more GSM mobile lines in the coming future.
Likewise, NT has also managed to increase to over 1 million its CDMA service till mid-October. The company has started the CDMA service in the rural areas to benefit rural people as it is a wireless service. Presently, NT has a total of over 5.1 million GSM and CDMA customers.
According to NT, it is all set to add some 153 Base Transceiver Station (BTS) for GSM and 64 BTS for CDMA service across the country. Its plan is to have more than 4500 BTS countrywide to enhance service and quality by the end of this current fiscal year. The company has 1,670 BTS at present. The company has also been able to provide service of Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) to 59 districts and it has plans to take the service to all 79 districts soon.
TATA india to offer SIM cards on its CDMA network
Oberthur Technologies the world’s second largest provider of Smart Card based solutions today announced the commercialization of its OMHTM (Open Market Handsets) SIM cards for CDMA (Code Development Multiple Access) networks. OMH SIM cards contain subscriber, network and service configuration data that allow subscribers the freedom to easily change and upgrade their handset, but maintain their network configuration.
Oberthur Technologies collaborated with Tata Teleservices Limited, one of India’s fastest growing private telecom service providers, and Qualcomm Incorporated, a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on CDMA and other advanced technologies, to introduce OMHTM SIM cards into the India market.
Olivier Leroux, Head of the Mobile Product Line for the Card Systems Division at Oberthur Technologies said, “Oberthur Technologies is the first to commercially launch OMHTM SIM cards. We are pleased to partner with industry leaders such as Tata Teleservices and Qualcomm who are enhancing the subscriber experience for Indian consumers.”
The OMHTM SIM card, referred to as a removable user identity module (R-UIM), is a state of the art smartcard that stores operator and subscriber specific configuration parameters, separate from the handset memory. By having this configuration parameters located on the OMHTM SIM card rather than the device, subscribers can more easily switch or upgrade their handsets. These cards allow CDMA network operators to increase the selection of devices and services while lowering distribution and inventory costs.
“These are exciting times in the Indian telecom space where innovation, research and development are the key to success and remain competitive in the business. In our constant effort to redefine the telecom space keeping customers at the central point, Tata Teleservices decided to partner with Qualcomm and Oberthur Technologies to further develop the Open Market Handset initiative and offer more choice to customers”, said Lloyd Mathias, Chief Marketing Officer, Tata Teleservices Limited.
“Qualcomm is pleased to work with Oberthur Technologies for its leadership as one of the first companies to develop OMH SIM cards,” said Nakul Duggal, Senior Director and OMH Project Lead, Qualcomm Corporate Engineering Services. “The OMH initiative is focused on increasing device variety by offering new channels and distribution options within the CDMA ecosystem to provide greater subscriber flexibility.”
About Oberthur Technologies
With sales of 882 million Euros in 2008, Oberthur Technologies is a world leader in the field of secure technologies. Innovation and high quality services ensure Oberthur Technologies’ strong positioning in its main target markets:
– Card Systems: The world’s second largest provider of security and identification based on smart card technology and associated services for mobile, payment, transport, digital TV and convergence markets. – Identity: Leading international supplier for the manufacture and personalization of secure identity documents such as passport, identity card, driving license or health care card – traditional and electronic – and associated services for both governmental and corporate markets. – Security printing: World’s third largest private security printer specialized in high security for the production of banknotes, checks and other fiduciary documents in more than fifty countries. – Cash protection: World leader in the emerging market of intelligent systems to secure cash-in-transit and ATM.
Close to its customers, Oberthur Technologies benefits from an industrial and commercial presence across all five continents.
Oberthur Technologies S.A. is a limited liability company (societe anonyme) registered in France with its registered office at 50 quai Michelet 92 532 Levallois Perret, France. Oberthur Technologies S.A.’s corporate registration number is 340 709 534 R.C.S. Paris.
Website: http://www.oberthur.com
About Tata Teleservices Limited
Tata Teleservices Limited is one of India’s leading private telecom service providers, having a pan-India presence across all of India’s 22 telecom Circles. The company offers integrated telecom solutions to its customers under the Tata Indicom, Tata DOCOMO, Photon and Walky brands, and uses both the CDMA and GSM technology platform(s) for its wireless networks. Tata Teleservices Limited, along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited, operates in more than 325,000 towns and villages across the country. In November 2008, Tata Teleservices entered into an agreement with Japanese telecom major NTT DOCOMO, and this transaction marks a key step in the strategic evolution of Tata Teleservices Limited. Tata DOCOMO has so far launched GSM services in eight telecom Circles, and the remaining part of the country is also expected to be covered shortly. In December 2008, Tata Teleservices announced a unique reverse equity swap strategic agreement between its fully-owned telecom tower subsidiary-Wireless TT Info-Services Limited-and Quippo Telecom Infrastructure Limited, thereby becoming the largest independent entity in this space. Tata Teleservices’ bouquet of telephony services includes mobile services, wireless desktop phones, public booth telephony and Wireline services.
For details, visit http://www.tatateleservices.com, http://www.tatadocomo.com or http://www.tataindicom.com.
About Qualcomm
Qualcomm is a registered trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
TATA and BSNL enter Network Sharing deal (India)
Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL), India’s fastest-growing pan India telecom service provider, today announced the signing of a landmark ‘Master Services Agreement for Passive Infrastructure Sharing’ with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
Becoming the first Indian private telecom operator to enter into an agreement of this nature. The agreement which is valid for 15 years will be applicable to both Tata Teleservices Limited and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited in all of India’s 22 telecom Circles.
This is a moment of pride for us, as we have become the first private telecom operator to enter into such a strategically important agreement with BSNL, one that will allow us to expand our telecom footprint across the country much more quickly,†Mr Madhav Joshi, President, Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Tata Teleservices Limited, said.
The agreement comes at a very strategic time for Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML), as both companies have been aggressively expanding their network presence on the CDMA side with Tata Indicom, while also rolling out GSM services under the TATA DOCOMO brand name. In the short space of just three months, we have already rolled out our GSM services in nine Circles—Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh and Haryana,†Mr AG Rao, Chief Technology Officer, Tata Teleservices Limited, said. This agreement has the potential to not just speed up our network expansion and rollout process, but would also have a substantial impact in terms of reduced costs,†he added.
Under the terms of the agreement, TTSL and TTML will have access to thousands of BSNL towers all across the country.
Why Anil Ambani wants to ride two horses in telecom
: It happened almost simultaneously. Just when Reliance Communications applied to the government for a pan-India GSM spectrum, it announced a mega deal with Nokia for two million CDMA handsets.
The two parallel developments have sent out mixed signals to the industry on whether Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications, which is the leading CDMA player with around 23 million subscribers, is interested in GSM or CDMA or both.
A few months ago, the company had applied for spectrum in six circles to operate GSM (global system for mobile communications) service. But it has now upped the ante by applying for a pan-India GSM presence, except in two circles (north-east and
).
Reliance maintains that it is “committed to pursue the world’s leading mobile technologies, whether CDMA or GSM, to provide the best and competitive services to our many million customers”. Reliance Communications runs GSM services through a subsidiary, Reliance Telecom.
Will Reliance then ride two horses at the same time? A source in the GSM camp said that Reliance may progressively tone down the CDMA focus. The company may target additional growth in GSM, he said.
Over a period of time, it may even look at shifting its CDMA subscriber base to the GSM platform, the source added.
Subsequently, introduction of dual mode world-phones (common for GSM and CDMA) in
will make things easier, he claimed. Another industry insider, however, argued that Reliance would not leave CDMA, where it has such a strong subscriber base.
“A dealer who sells all kinds of products is the best dealer,” he said. The company’s aim seems to be to multiply faster than others so that it becomes the top player in the country.
There are four reasons for Reliance’s strategy shift. One, thanks to handset limitations, higher-end users tend to prefer GSM, especially since international roaming is better on GSM.
Two, GSM operators continue to bill about 40% more than CDMA subscribers, indicating that they have better pricing power.
Three, by offering both CDMA and GSM, Reliance can design different schemes targeting different segments of the market.
And for, GSM is by far the dominant technology worldwide and in
, outnumbering CDMA 2.5:1 in
.
The evidence from circles where Reliance offers both CDMA and GSM suggests that one does not cannibalise the other. In the six circles where both are available (MP,
, Kolkata,, Orissa and Himachal), Reliance has 3.5 million subscribers and 2.1 million GSM ones.
The GSM subscriber base is much higher, both in
and globally, thereby making it logical for Reliance Communications to focus on GSM technology, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ associate director Arpita Pal Agrawal.
“The economies of scale are much better in the case of GSM,” she said. She also pointed out that while CDMA is very effective for high-speed data applications, the current Reliance base includes a large number of low-cost customers.
As for government policy, a senior official in the department of telecommunications (DoT) told DNA Money that “licences are technology neutral”.
He gave this reply when asked whether Reliance required to surrender some of its CDMA spectrum to expand in the GSM space. However, there are concerns within the government and the industry over the additional spectrum allocation sought, as spectrum is considered a scarce resource.
Also, a senior representative of DoT recently told the media, “the government policy is not to shut doors (on any player)”. He added that BSNL and MTNL also offered both GSM and CDMA in some common circles.
Interestingly, Reliance Communications is learnt to have told DoT recently that its decision to expand in GSM is linked to government’s teledensity target.
The company indicated that it aimed to have the largest marketshare in the Indian telecom sector by 2010 end, and that it must opt for GSM expansion to reach there, according to sources.
While communications minister Dayanidhi Maran has set a target of 250 million phone connections by the end of 2007 and 500 million by the end of 2010, Reliance Communications is understood to be eyeing anything between 110 million and 125 million subscribers by then, representing a marketshare of around 25%.
Even as the CDMA growth has been robust, in terms of absolute numbers it is nowhere near GSM. As against 1,820 million GSM users across the world as of March, 2006, CDMA had only 250 million subscribers, excluding the 3G user base.
If 3G users are taken into account, the GSM base has crossed 2 billion and CDMA 318 million.
In
, GSM is way ahead with 86.6 million users, while CDMA has managed over 35 million, including its wireline and fixed wireless subscribers.
GSM players in
include Bharti, Hutch, Idea and BSNL, while Reliance Telecom has over 2 million GSM users in eight circles. CDMA is represented mainly by Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices.
From December, 2001, to December, 2002, the CDMA base in
grew 125%, against 92.5% in GSM during the corresponding period. From December, 2002, to December, 2003, CDMA recorded a growth of 800% against 110.5% in GSM.
(It was in December, 2002, that Reliance launched its CDMA service). From December, 2003, to 2004, the CDMA growth rate was 75.3%, against 70.3% in GSM. From December, 2004, to 2005, CDMA showed a growth of 76%, against 56.8% in GSM. However, from December, 2005, to May, 2006, the CDMA growth rate has been lower at 26% against 28.5 per cent in GSM.
Global numbers also indicate a better growth trajectory for CDMA, as opposed to GSM.
From the fourth quarter of 2001 to the corresponding period in 2002, CDMA growth rate was 819.4% against 46.3% in GSM. From Q4 of 2002 to Q4 of 2003, CDMA recorded a growth rate of 158%, against 25% in GSM.
From Q4 of 2003 to Q4 of 2004, the global CDMA user base grew 70.9% against 28% in GSM. From Q4 of 2004 to Q4 of 2005, the CDMA growth rate was 54.1% against 31.8% in GSM.
From the fourth quarter of 2005 to the end of first quarter of 2006, the CDMA growth rate was 11.2% against 6.4% in GSM. The 3G figures have not been taken into account for calculating the global growth rate in GSM and CDMA.
Source- http://www.dnaindia.com
Technorati : Airtel, CDMA, GSM, Hutch, Idea, India, Mobile, Reliance Telecom
Ice Rocket : Airtel, CDMA, GSM, Hutch, Idea, India, Mobile, Reliance Telecom
